Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

The poetic, atmospheric soundscapes created by the young Yves Peeters Group make you dream of endless car rides on Route 66. Out with cliché standards and hollow virtuosity, enter intelligent compositions with surprising cameos of folk tunes and pop ballads. Think beautiful, sing-along melodies with the romantic feel of Charlie Haden, Bill Frisell’s sumptuous Americana and Paul Motian’s subtlety and versatility. Saxophonist Nicolas Kummert and bass player Nic Thys add a touch of funk, as a reminder of their band Groove Thing, in which they showed their groovy side together with pianist Jef Neve. In February 2009 the Yves Peeters Group even visited the Mali Bamako Jazz festival, organised by De Werf and musician Baba Sissoko.